International Histories of Invention and Innovation

[Please note: The conference is concluded and the proceedings are available from Springer. The next Working Group meeting will be with the rest of Technical Committee 9 at HCC 13 for the IFIP World Congress in 2018.]

Call for Papers

NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Brooklyn, NY, USA25-29 May 2016

Analog and digital computers were developed by individuals aware of an international scientific community. Likewise, although sometimes thought of as solely national projects, the first computer networks were built in an age of growing interconnectivity among nations. This meeting of IFIP Working Group 9.7 in New York City gathers historians and other professionals to reflect on histories that foreground the international community. Participants with an interest in this historical context for computers and computer networks may present academic papers or join in roundtable discussions.

In accordance with this theme, we hope to blur the dichotomy between core and periphery and complicate simplistic notions of linear technological progress. Far from a deterministic view that computers and computer networks were developed in isolation and according to their own technical imperatives, we will show the history of pre-existing relationships and communities that led to the triumphs (and dead ends) in the history of computing. This broad perspective will help us to tell a more accurate story of important developments like the Internet, to be sure, but also it will provide us with a better understanding of how to sponsor future invention and innovation.

At the conference, we seek to foster a conversation about internationalism in the history of computers and computer networks along four broad themes:

Invention

communities where analog computers were developed

communication about and competition for early devices

innovations brought in from the supposed periphery

failed, forgotten, or thwarted efforts to develop networks or industries

Policy

trade and treaties supporting computers and networks

organizations like IFIP with a mission to promote collaboration

long trajectories of digital divides

case studies revealing ethical considerations

cross-national comparisons of gender or ethnic diversity in industry and education

Infrastructure

communication and data networks before the Internet

development and diffusion of TCP/IP

connectivity efforts before NSFNET, NSFNET, and beyond

resistance to and success of the WorldWideWeb

Social History

differences and similarities in international impacts on general society

antecedents (Wells’s World Brain) and visions (Human-Nets’s WorldNet)

individuals who championed connections between nations

historiography of internationalism in computing

representations of international computing communities in film or literature

It is hoped that the conference will be of interest to a broad range of people who study computing and computer networks, including academic scholars and graduate students, but also those who have a professional or technical interest in computing. Accordingly, there are two ways to participate:

Academic Papers: For consideration, please submit your draft paper before January 8, 2016 via the conference website. Enquires are welcome in advance of your submission (chrisleslienyc@hotmail.com). Draft papers will be circulated before the conference in order to encourage a meaningful discussion. At the conference, each selected participant will be allotted time to present an overview of his or her paper. It is our intention to publish selected conference papers in an anthology by Springer, and hopefully the conference feedback will be useful as presenters complete their final drafts.

Roundtable Discussions: The conference will also feature roundtables of 10-15 minute, relatively informal presentations related to the conference theme. Technical professionals and others who may not desire to prepare a full paper in advance are welcome to participate in this way. These presentations could focus on key figures, historical anecdotes, or observations on particular projects. We hope that these roundtables will spark lively conversation and, perhaps, generate research partnerships between historians and technical professionals. For consideration, send a title, a 300- to 500- word abstract, and your institutional affiliation before January 8 before April 15, 2016 by email (chrisleslienyc@hotmail.com). Enquires are welcome in advance of your submission.

Deadlines

January 8

Draft papers due for consideration

February 5

Acceptances announced

February 15

Deadline to confirm participation

April 1

Final papers due

April 15

Extended deadline for roundtable presentations

April 30

Registration deadline for discount rate

Wednesday, May 25

Conference begins

Sunday, May 29

Conference ends

Monday, May 30

Memorial Day (Federal US holiday)

July 1

Revisions due for papers selected for inclusion in conference proceedings

Ulf Hashagen – Deutsches Museum, The Research Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Munich, Germany“‘Mirror-Image Twins’: German and Allied Computer Experts between Research Control, Confidentiality, Research Cooperation and Technology Transfer 1945-1950”

Paul E. Ceruzzi – National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, United States“The Other Side of Moore’s Law: The Chip, Aerospace, and the Microelectronics Revolution, 1962–1975”